Watch out Coneheads here comes the Bucketheads!

The boys on Saturday night decided that they not only wanted to have buckets but that they needed to but them on their heads.  They walked around with the buckets on their heads for a good portion of the evening.  It was dark outside by the time they decided to take off the buckets!

Trying to navigate to the outside with a bucket on your head can be tricky!

Will switches to a different bucket

Here he is screaming into the second bucket.  I am not sure as to why, but it kept him happy and occupied for a while so I was happy!

Taking a bucket head break

Me and my bucket head baby!

My Matchie Match Boys

The boys have this pair of pajamas that match.  I think they look so cute in their Matchie Jammies  that I had to take pictures of it last time they wore them at the same time.  They didn't want me to take pictures of them in their jammies so these are on the sly and not the best pictures in the world but they sure are cute!

Seriously you can just feel the displeasure that I am taking their picture in this picture!

Stop taking my picture and just read us stories!

Picking out what stories they want read for bed time!

Google talk

Today I finally got google talk downloaded and we used it to talk with Grandma Bennett!!  It was so wonderful.  Lil'Will thought it was such a hoot!  He loved being able to talk with her and show her things.  It took him a minute to warm up but then it was fun!  So I am begging all of you who have a computer with a webcam to please either get a google account or something so that we can video chat with you all.  I think since our family is so spread out it will be a good way for all the cousins to actually get a chance to know one another.  It will be so much fun!!  seriously so if you have the option please do this so we can all have fun together!

More adorable pictures of the boys!

These are some more pictures of the boys doing what they do best.  Playing!!!

sliding down the slide

getting ready to ride down the slide

Baby James thought his bucket was a hat

more bucket wearing fun!

Lil'Will loves pretending and here he was pretending that it was halloween.  He made us put rocks in his treat bag and tell him Happy Halloween!!  While he would then say trick or treat.  I know backwards, but he loved it!

Baby James getting in on the halloween fun!

Such a happy trick or treater!

Time spent with Grandpa Juenger

We had a great time with Grandpa while he was here with us.  We went to the park, picked up cousin Trent, saw the air show, went to the Red Rock canyon and of course a lot more time at the park.  I of course forgot to bring the camera at most of these events so I only have a few pictures of while he was here with us.  The boys loved having someone to wrestle and play with they also loved how Grandpa was always outside with them.  They didn't need mommy to be outside for an entire week!  We had a lot of fun and look forward to when we get to visit him in New York!

Lil'Will is showing us his cool trick of going down the slide backwards!

James going down correctly

Of course the slide is only fun if you can go up the slide as well as down it.

Grandpa has a habit of wondering off so he tends to dress in flashy colors so we can always find him.  Well he saw that we have these glow in the dark orange hats from when we worked the Nascar races last year and he had to wear it for when we went to the air show.  Baby James thought it was the coolest!

Grandpa in his glow in the dark clothes!

Pictures of our veteran!

So I know that I wanted to post this on Tuesday but obviously that didn't happen so I am posting it now.  William has recently sent me some pictures.  So what a better way to celebrate Veteran's Day than with pictures of our very own veteran!  

William and his group recently found this mortar.  Again it is a very big find.  They found it in a corn field.

Here he is with the dismount guys in the corn field where they found the mortar.

Resting in a mud building

here he is looking through the window in the mud hut

Again with his dismount crew, no I don't know what that means, that is the Tigeris river behind them.

yes this is my husband with his head in a hole!  No he isn't an ostrich, he is the super smart one looking for anything hidden in the dark scary hole!

Will in front of the Tigeris river

A good picture of his face.  This is the Army uniform

Here he is with the mortar plate.  He is wearing a flight suit in this picture, what the pilots wear.  When off base they have to wear these since their Abu's are flame retardant.  They have been given some Army uniforms to wear as well since they are flame retardant.  In a few weeks he will get more Abu's that are flame retardant so he will come home with three new styles of uniforms!  Crazy huh?!

An Iraqi check point

Here are some pictures that our neighbor A1c Lawson took and sent to his wife who was kind enough to share with us.  So these next two posts are pictures from him and our of the Iraqi country side that the boys patrol.  Lawson does work and do the same job as Will but they are on two different groups so they don't work at the same time in Iraq.  In fact they've only seen each other a few times since arriving in Balad.  

Here is an Iraqi check point.  The two soldiers standing by the cone are Iraqi soldiers.  The group of three with their backs facing us are Air Force soldiers.  They are wearing flight suits since their uniforms are not flame retardant.  

I thought it was interesting that the older Iraqi men still wear the traditional clothing.

I posted this picture since it shows that the younger men wear normal clothes

Just another picture of the check point

This is a little boy herding sheep. I've been told a lot of younger children walk the animals around the farm land. William has seen cows, goats, and sheep. 

The Iraqi country side

Air Base Balad lies right on the Tigres river in Iraq.  So the country side is rather green.  Now here are some pictures of the areas surrounding the base.  William says that these are not as green as it really is. There is also a lot of desert by the looks of it.  He says that it has been raining a lot this week and since most of the area isn't used to water it is just pooling.  He now understands why their trailers are up on lifts!  He is afraid that his room will flood if it continues to rain.  

Two baby calves

Some fields

Cows

some type of water

The field next to the water.

London Bridge Day's parade

While we were in Havasu we were lucky to be there for the London Bridge Days.  It is always full with great fun activities and one of the best parts is the parade.  There were all sorts of fun sights and people actually gave out candy.  The boys were so excited about that.  Lil'Will tried all the candy.  But he freely gave away his half eaten candy when more was given to him.  Even Baby James was excited and wanted to run into the street to get the thrown candy.

Here they are arriving in the wagon, not sure what to make of it all.

Waving to all the people in the parade

The shriners brought Camels to the parade!

sucking on some candy and enjoying the view

Leaving the parade full of candy and with fun balloons!

Nana's Sandbox

Knowing how much the boys enjoy their sandbox Nana had Gerry build a large one at her house.  The boys had so much fun playing in it that they didn't want to leave!  It still needs some sand, but the boys loved playing in the dirt, probably better than actual sand.

plenty of room for a lot Bobs

Gerry even got out his antique crane for the boys to play with.  They all were very excited.

Before it was finished it was perfect place for snipers!

Halloween festival

On Saturday while I was getting ready for my 10 year reunion Nana took the boys to a halloween festival.  They were supposed to be in their costumes but it was so hot that we kept them in their t-shirts and shorts.  There were lots of fun things to do and play there.  My favorite story of the festival is the face painting.  Lil'Will has never allowed us to paint his face.  He is always to scared.  He'll make us wait in line and then when we get up front he cries and runs the opposite direction, so I was shocked when he came home with a bat on his face!  Well, James always has to do whatever his brother does so after Lil'Will so bravely painted his face James also had to show how brave he was.  Apparently he climbed into the seat the minute that Lil'Will vacated it.  He climbed on up and pulled up his short leg and started to point and grunt at his leg.  The lady was very sweet and painted a spider on his leg for him.  He was very proud after that and would walk up to about anyone and point and grunt at his spider on his leg!  He was very proud of it!  Of course all the strangers made a big deal of his spider which made him very happy. 

Here James is getting his spider painted on.  Lil'Will is offering moral support.

He was very excited and wanted to help so she had to hold his hand  so it wouldn't get in the paint.

Here she is asking him if he wants her to paint his face.

Lil'Will and his very manly bat!